May 2009

It’s graduation time at colleges across the country. If you have children graduating from college, you’re probably excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for them. But once your last child leaves home, and you become an “empty nester,” you also may find some good opportunities for yourself — opportunities to improve your financial situation.

In fact, your empty nester status may help you make progress toward what are likely some key financial goals at this stage of your life: Getting rid of debt and accelerating your savings for retirement.

What steps should you consider? For starters, you could downsize your home by moving into a smaller, less expensive one. If you make a profit on the sale of your home, you could use it to invest for retirement and clear up debts. Of course, you may be emotionally attached to your home and neighborhood, but downsizing may be a good financial option to consider at some point.

Here are a few other suggestions for taking advantage of your empty nest:

The Ballard High School girls lacrosse team is continuing to end its season on a high note. The Beavers won their final game May 8 to end a 12-game losing streak, and now the team and one of its players, Maddie Soukup, have been honored by the league.

Soukup was named to the Washington Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association's all-league team. One of 16 players from her division to receive the nomination.

Soukup lead Ballard with 21 goals this season.

Ballard as a team was given the league's Division II Sportsmanship Award.

The Ballard players were frequently commended for having a good attitude by the referees, and the coach of the Snohomish lacrosse team said Ballard was the classiest team he had played, Ballard coach Lise Martin said earlier this season.

School Board representative for district VI (West Seattle and South Park), Steve Sundquist, will be at Uptown Espresso for an informal discussion with parents and guardians Tuesday, May 26 at 9 a.m.

Uptown Espresso is located at 4301 S.W. Edmunds St. in West Seattle. All people interested in education are welcome.

Since elected to the School Board in November 2007, Sundquist has held several of these informal gatherings where he has invited the public to engage in a discussion about any concerns or comments regarding public education.

On April 25, I attended the first meeting of Central Ballard Prepared, held at the Ballard Landmark on Leary Way, to better prepare residents in the area for survival if disaster were to strike.

The purpose of this meeting was to begin the process of creating an emergency preparedness group for central Ballard (that area being defined by the city as bounded by Northwest 65th Street, to 11th Avenue Northwest to the east, Shilsole Avenue to the south and 28th Avenue Northwest to the west).

The group got off to a good start by choosing Ballard Commons Park as a location for people to gather after a disaster. Attending the meeting really made me think, not only about my own level of preparedness, but about the needs of more vulnerable members of the community during a disaster and what I can do to help.

Members of the local community have expressed sincere appreciation since Kevin McFeely, CEO of The Kenney promised the historic Seaview building would be preserved in a $150 million remodel and expansion of the retirement community

At the third Early Design Guidance meeting on May 14, Gene Guszkowski, AG Architecture, explained their plan to move the Seaview 180 feet east so that it would have a more prominent location and serve as the front door for the campus.

While it currently contains residential units, the building has been repurposed for community rooms and office spaces.

But preserving the historic landmark could have consequences on the rest of the campus. The Kenney’s new design proposal has less green space. It also brings up density issues across the site and concerns over a service entrance that board members worry is too close to the campus’s main entry.

In a previous design review meeting on Jan. 8, the board voiced some concern over the perimeter in campus, which designs showed would be lined with building walls. In the latest design, streets are lined with green space and multiple courtyards.

On May 13 at approximately 4:44 a.m., North Precinct officers responded to a 911 call of a burglary in progress to a business in the 8300 Block of 15th Avenue Northwest.

A citizen called to report that they saw a male break the window and enter the store. Officers arrived at the location while the suspect was still inside.

The suspect emerged from the store and attempted to flee past officers. After a short foot pursuit by an officer the suspect was caught. The suspect confessed to the burglary and also confessed to several other burglaries.

The burglary detectives were called in to process the scene and take a detailed statement from the suspect. The detectives will be responsible for the follow up investigation, but it appears that this suspect may be responsible for a number of burglaries that have occurred in the North Precinct.

The 21 year-old male was later booked into the King County Jail for Investigation of burglary.

(Editor's note: The following article appears originally in Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin' s newsletter "Making it Work.")

On Monday, May 11, the council committee of the whole on economic recovery approved a resolution outlining the strategies and actions that the council intends to undertake to mitigate the impacts of the current economic recession on Seattle residents and businesses, and to help promote the economic recovery of the city and region.

The council has worked with community members and businesses over the last few weeks to identify steps that we can take that will help those who are unemployed, at risk for foreclosure, or otherwise impacted by this severe recession.  We have identified 17 specific actions that we can take that will assist those in need, help businesses weather the current downturn, and prepare Seattle for the next economy.
The following actions are included in the resolution:

A disappointing 2009 season came to a close for the Ballard High School softball team with an 11-1 loss May 13 to Inglemoor.

The Beavers finished the season 1-17, and the loss to Inglemoor was the team's 14th in a row. Ballard's only win was April 8 against Garfield.

"Coming into the season, everyone new that we could not measure ourselves on wins and losses this year," coach Kyle Gray said. "I had heard that this was one of the strongest leagues in the state, and now I know it is."

Ballard had a difficult time keeping up with its opponents offensively and was outscored by 144 runs this season. The Beavers were shutout six times and scored multiple runs in a game only seven times.

"Some of those games looked liked blow-outs, but I will tell you they were a lot closer than the score indicated," Gray said. "I feel like we got better everyday because these girls were coachable and worked extremely hard. But most importantly, they were patient with each other and stayed positive."

The offense did start to get on track for Ballard toward the end of the season.

(Editor's note: The following article appears originally in Seattle City Council President Richard Conlin' s newsletter "Making it Work.")

On April 13, the council approved an ordinance moving forward $24.2 million to begin construction on 29 projects designated for funding from the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy. The $24.2 million, which represents the first installment of $145 million in levy funding approved by Seattle voters last November, will target development and renovation projects that can quickly move from the final design to construction phase, thereby enabling the city to leverage the levy to create jobs and stimulate the local economy.

Among the projects in the ordinance are installing synthetic turf at Delridge Playfield, Genesee Playfield Number 1, and two Lower Woodland Park Playfields.  The parks department currently has synthetic turf at 10 fields around the city, and has been planning to gradually convert its most heavily used fields to this over time. 

Select streets in Ballard subject to sewer overflow might be next on Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) list of potential natural drainage system projects.

SPU’s Tracy Tackett presented the proposed project, called Ballard Green Streets, to members of the Ballard District Council Wednesday.

According to SPU, an natural drainage system helps limit the negative impacts of storm water runoff by redesigning residential streets with vegetation that can more easily absorb the excess water.

Tackett said sewer overflow happens when storm and waste water flow into a single pipe, causing them to back-up and discharge. According to SPU’s Web site, this storm water run-off can erode stream channels, contaminate water and disrupt marine food chains.

“The main role of these street projects is to come up with a way of solving the problem that offers multiple benefits to the community,” Tackett said.

Tackett listed green space, aesthetic appeal, shade and traffic calming as a few of the benefits of atural drainage systems.